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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: RAAL “Water Drop” tweeter for Macondo.
Post Subject: Looking the partPosted by Paul S on: 2/18/2007
That is one textbook HF ribbon, Romy, long, narrow and naked as a jaybird.

Don't be surprised if eventually a certain amount of magnetic "dust" somehow finds its way into that ultra-strong magnet gap.  Who knows what it is or where it comes from, but it's a PITA to clean out of there.

I just put in "naked" Audaphon ribbons over 2 uF caps + coils and I was quite pleased as the ribbons' response settled down over time until, just as you have described, the principal effect became more like better MF transient "attack", or something like that.  Although "rated" the same, the "naked" Arum Cantus did not do this, and I presume that's because the A.C. did not actually meet its sensitivity specs/was too weak for my speakers.  Past electrosatic panel HF arrays have not had this "MF transient" effect, BTW, despite careful level matching.  No "naked" HF ribbons I have tried have accentuated noise, nor did they harden sibilants, and vocals are rendered with nothing more than greater clarity, in my experience, or the ribbon can be dialed in so this is the case.  The "attack" thing is a bonus!

Do you actually prefer the S2 at crossover frequencies, or is the problem driver compatibility, or is it just too much sound at crossover?   If you have the power to burn, why not scrub a dB or two off the ribbon, or just stick with the 2 uF cap on the ribbon and taper off the S2 HF in order to blend them? 

Anyway, maybe the ribbons will still settle in some more yet.  I am curious to see what happens in your system, but I would guess that if they are going to work at all with the S2s, then the new ribbons and S2s will wind up "lapping", at least some, one way or the other.  I don't know about MF benefits if the ribbon is crossed over much higher than 10k, because I've never tried crossing over higher than that for long enough to get a handle on it.

Great looking ribbons!

Congrats on the successful relationship with RAAL.  Very encouraging to hear about it.

Best regards,
Paul S

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